Name Game
by MsMorg
Summary: Rick and Kate argue over names prior to the appointment where they find out the gender of their offspring. One-shot!


**A One-shot for the ever-patient Lou, keep waiting, dear.**

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"Lucas!" He exclaimed as he opened the door for her, "We could call him Luke for short."

"Yeah, no," she chuckled, "I'm not having you hovering over him and yammering 'Luke I am your father' every chance you get. Plus, we don't even know that it's a boy yet." She shook her head, entering the building ahead of him.

He hastened his steps to catch up, as she pressed the elevator call button. "You're such a buzz-kill, Lucas is a hip name! The main character on One Tree Hill is named Lucas, and his dad did not once say that," he reasoned.

"Yeah, well, his father was never around to say it, missy," she threw back, tapping her foot as the elevator made its descent.

"I hate that you know that," he pouted. The elevator dinged then, and he held his out, allowing her to step on ahead of him.

She rolled her eyes and stepped onto the elevator, "I was laid up for three months after I was shot, Netflix was my only friend next to your books, you dork."

"Okay, fine, not Lucas then, hmmm," he thought, "How about Jordan? It would work for a boy or girl, and it would kind of honor Jordan Shaw, you know?" The elevator rose slowly to the floor the office was on, much like her level of annoyance, she was getting more and more short tempered as the pregnancy progressed.

"That may be so, but you would also probably call them Green Lantern at any chance you got. Honestly, how did Alexis get a normal name?" She hissed.

"Meredith put her foot down on Alexandra, and shortened It to Alexis, I guess naming my daughter after myself was a bit of a leap, but kings did it, didn't they? And… Well, I'm a Castle, so that's like a king, right?" He tried for humor, that usually diffused the anger.

Kate rolled her eyes, "Yeah, I figured as much, Alexander. So I guess I just have to put my foot down like she did then." She let out a breath, letting off some of her steam as she thought for a moment, "Okay, no superhero or pop culture names, famous writers are a maybe, and any and all names must be approved by not only me, but also Alexis, just in case I'm not in my right mind."

"WHAT? Those rules are bogus! Alexis knows all of the comic book character names! I read them with her as a kid, and she's seen all of the movies and shows!" He whined, she smirked.

"Well, whose fault is that?" She teased, the rest of her steam dissipating as quickly as it had built up.

"She _likes_ superhero literature!" He contested, knowing that she had calmed back down by now.

"Whatever, Castle, just be serious about this. This is our child, and I don't want you to scar them for life," she appealed to his reasonable side. "Names we won't use include: William, Vulcan, and Jerry," she said completely straight-faced.

"Wow, Kate, you tell me to be serious and then make a joke about murderers, good one!" he chuckled, "Why can't we name them after a superhero? I get your point with Lucas, but what's so bad about Jordan, really?"

"I told you, our child will not be Green Lantern," she sighed, shifting in the plush, yet still uncomfortable chair of the waiting room.

"There are worse things that superheroes, you know. Even Edgar wouldn't really be a good name for the kid, as Poe has been suspected to have committed suicide," he offered as proof of superhero name validity.

"We'll see Castle, let's just see if it's a boy or girl first, and then we can continue the battle that's been going on for what seems like forever," she sighed. In that moment, he could see it, the toll this pregnancy, coupled with her long hours at work, was taking. Her mask slipped for only a few moments before she straightened up again, her face a mask of joy, which he knew wasn't truly fake, but dragged up to the front to hide everything else.

"Kate," he breathed, grasping one of her hands and kissing the side of her head, " you need to cut back at work." She sighed again, looking over at him with tired eyes, their foreheads resting against each other. "Without me there to help you, and get you home at a decent time, you've been there all hours, and it's wearing you down, honey." She leaned further into him over the chair arms between them.

"I know," she whispered, closing her eyes, and reveling in his presence, something she was only able to do for a few hours at night these days.

"Castle?" Their doctor called from the door to the patient rooms.

They stood and followed the doctor to a room, she motioned for Kate to get up onto the table, and Rick helped her, steadying her when she didn't make the little hop the first time. They shared a look, his as if to say 'See? You aren't up to it anymore!', and hers to say 'Not now!'.

"Well, let's see what you've got cooking in there, huh? Big day! Will it be a boy or a girl?" The nurse rambled as they continued their stare down.

"Right! Let me help you with that," Rick offered, gently tugging Kate's shirt up to just under her breasts, her slightly swollen belly protruding just enough for her to begin being self-conscious, and for him to swell with pride.

The Doctor applied some jelly and began the ultrasound, "Oh! Well, looks like I was wrong at that last appointment, there's definitely more than one fetus in there!" The doctor exclaimed, pointing out the not four, but eight limbs. The doctor examined the ultrasound for a few more moments before declaring, "fraternal twins, a boy and a girl!" She motioned to the parts of the screen that indicated that to her, but didn't really make much sense to them, as they were still stuck on 'twins'.

"A boy…?" Rick choked out.

"And a girl?!" Kate finished.

"That's what I'm seeing! Let's print these ultrasounds," the doctor said cheerfully.

They just looked at each other, trying to come to terms with this.

He, of course snapped out of it first, "Well, I guess Lucas is back on the table, because we _have _to name them Luke an Leia," he said, no trace of humor in his voice, but his face lit up like a Christmas tree.

"Yeah, yeah, that's nice," Kate said, her eyes still glazed over.

"Is that approval I hear?! Let me get out my phone to record this!" Castle exclaimed, scrambling for his phone and hitting record. "What was that Kate? Luke and Leia are good names for the twins?"

"Yeah, sounds great," she said, staring blankly at his face.

He saved the video and stowed his phone. "Kate, come on, this is great news, now you only have to do it once, right? Two for one! We get the two kids we talked about endlessly, and you only have to go through all of these changes once, and we get twice the reward! One kid for each of us to attach ourselves to, though if we're being honest, you know that I'm going to smother both of them with toys and gadgets from day one."

"No way, Castle, you're not submitting our daughter to your torment, she gets to have the choice whether or not to be a comic book nerd!" Kate exclaimed finally, wide eyes narrowing on him.

"It's not just me, Alexis will obviously taint her too, and let's not mention your obsession with horrible pop culture shows," he grinned, kissing her forehead.

"These kids are screwed aren't they? We're gonna make them the biggest nerds in history," Kate laughed, one big whoop followed by several smaller chuckles, which brought the biggest smiles to Rick's face.

"They'll be perfect."

"They will."

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**A/N: As much as I'd like to be 'back', I'm not, this was just a promise to Lou for the long weekend. Three and a half months left, then maybe I can write more.**

***Fun fact: Prior to author's note additions, this was exactly 1,337 words. I'm so leet.**


End file.
